


More Bright Stars

by TheGeniusCallsYou



Series: A Lesson in Life [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Whump, mention of suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 08:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10567269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGeniusCallsYou/pseuds/TheGeniusCallsYou
Summary: After confrontation with an evil version of his dead wife, Harry ends up wounded and in coma- years of living with guilt that he suppressed for so long finally catching up with him. When he is stuck in his own personal nightmare it's up to Cisco to bring him back home and show him, that he's not alone anymore.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place somwhere after Jesse goes to Earth-3 but before the 3x19. Also since Jesse's full name is Jesse Chambers Wells,  
> I made Liberty Chambers to be her mother.  
> Harrison Wells is my favorite character and well, Harry deserves some peace, he's just blaming himself too much and whose better to help him understand that than Cisco? Also: HR neads some recognision too!  
> Anyway, hope you like it and thanks for reading :)  
> 

Jesse held her father's hand firmly in her own. She hadn't left his side since she came from Earth-3 after getting the message from Cisco. She slept little and cried a lot. Even more when she thought about a woman closed in the pipeline. What was with the universe and hating on her family? Wally came and sat with her for a while, but it had been six days since her arrival and her dad hadn't woken up even once. HR decided to be a silent support for her and sat next to her for hours, made sure that she actually ate anything and got some sleep. He was also offering his shoulder to cry on, when emotions were getting the best of her and she couldn’t just keep it in anymore. But even so, he wasn’t her dad… Caitlin said, that her father’s body went into coma to increase healing, but all what Jesse could think of, was whenever he would wake up at all. Even when the respirator was exchanged for nasal cannula, it didn't help enough to ease her mind at all.

"You need to wake up daddy..." she whispered caressing his head with her other hand. She was so tired and worried..."You promised me, you would never leave me..."  


She felt her eyes prickle and started crying again. It wasn’t long, when she felt a hand on her shoulder and when she looked up, she saw Catlin looking down at her.  


"He's not dead yet." Jesse swallowed and nodded once.  


"I know but... it's just... after mum..." She took a shaky breath and shook her head.  


"Jesse, I know it may be not the best time, but Harry... well, he said some things before..." Cisco waved his hand in Harry's direction.  


"What do you mean?"  


"Things about about your mum," Barry stood next to Cisco, arms crossed over his chest. Jesse felt her own chest tightening, but then Caitlin squeezed her shoulder. Jess looked at her father's face. Yeah, after all those years, she still remembered that time…  


"She died in a car accident when I was four. She and dad were coming back from some conference." She swallowed and looked up at the gathered team. "What exactly did my dad say?"  


Barry and Cisco looked at each other and it was the latter one who answered.  


"He said it was his fault. We didn't know what he was talking about, but..."  


"You think, he still blames himself for mum's death?"  


"It's possible isn't it?" Asked Caitlin sitting on a stool next to Jesse. The girls eyes looked lost as she gazed at her father’s face.  


"It took him two weeks to leave his room," she suddenly said without moving. "He had broken ribs and concussion but signed himself out of the hospital the next day...I was staying with my aunt at that time and I remember the moment when police knocked on our doors to inform her about the accident. The man I found in the hospital bed didn't look like my dad at all... I didn't understand what was going on..."  


She sniffed and let a humourless laugh.  


"He left me with my aunt... I wanted to see him but I was denied again and again by her... I ran home, maybe a week later, and found the door unlocked. Dad was sitting on his bedroom floor, too thin to my likening, with bugs under his eyes, cloths the same as he wore when he left hospital... there were empty bottles all around him..."  


Cisco and others looked as the girl lost herself in those memories. As Cisco listened, he couldn't picture Harry as Jesse described him now. Yes he was pretty close to that stage when Jasse had been kidnapped but this...  


"He was staring at the wall, haven't even noticed me when I came in... I remember that I climbed on his lap and wrapped my hands around his neck…it took him a couple of minutes to hug me back and then we both cried..." She didn't know when she started crying again but suddenly there were arms around her and Catlin was hugging her close. "He was so lost and I couldn't help him...'  


"Shhh Jesse... you were four, you've already done enough," even when the tears stopped, Cait didn't let go of her, instead she made small circles on her back.  


"It's just… he closed himself off...after two weeks he stood on my aunts front doors, dressed in suit and looking as if nothing happened and that was even more scary... he rarely smiled and stayed longer at work. He sent me pff to all different types of activities as if he was afraid to be close to me...It changed later but…"  


"What if the reason he's not waking up isn't because his body isn't ready?" Said Cisco suddenly as if stricken by a thought.  


"What are you saying?" Both Caitlin and Jesse looked at him and he swallowed.  


"You said Harry closed himself off, maybe that's what he's doing now? Is it possible?" He turned to Cailtin.  


She thought about it for a moment and then started nodding.  


"Yeah it is, but..."  


"Can’t you vibe him?" Asked HR coming through the doors with a drumstick in one hand and leaning on a door frame.  


"Yeah that's it!"  


"Cisco…" Barry wanted to cut in but Ramon didn’t let him.  


"No, listen: if what's keeping Harry in a coma is in his head, then I can get to him an try to get him out"  


"You don't know what would happen," said Barry.  


Cicso looked at Harry's still form. He remembered every time that Wells have been there for him, it was finally time to repay the favour.  


"I need to try."

*

Cisco checked his gauntlets and took his goggles from the table. He took a deep breath and stepped next to the bed.

"Ok, here we go," he put his goggles on and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. At first nothing happened, but then he was pulled into a blue vortex. He was stuck in it for a moment but then, he found himself sitting at the back of a car, rain tapping on the window and the roof.  


"Cisco, what's going on?" He heard Barry's voice.  


"I'm in a car..." He scooted closer to see who was at the front and then he felt as if someone punched him in the gut.  


"Harry's driving...his wife is here too..." He whispered. They both looked so young. Harry’s hair were longer and they stuck out in every direction resembling untamed mop. On his nose Cisco could see a black-framed glasses. He was dressed in blue dress shirt, an undone black tie hung on both sides of his neck. The woman sitting on a passenger seat looked so alike and yet so different to the one locked in their pipeline. She was also younger. Her blond hair were made into a simple bun, however some of them framed her face on both sides. She wore beautiful dress that matched Harry’s shirt.  


"God, I'm so tired. I can't wait to get rid of this clothes and go to bed," said Libby Chambers supporting her head on one hand. Cisco saw as Harry smirked with a mischievous glint in his eyes as he turned his head slightly towards his wife.  


"Gonna need help with that?"  


Libby smiled and moved her head to look at her husband.  


"I don't know... Do you know someone who can help? This zipper can be a real nightmare," she was smiling and Harry looked so relaxed, that Cisco felt his heart clench. He knew what was about to happen soon.  


'Well, as a matter of fact, I may know a certain physicist, that knows exactly how to make things fall." Libby looked as if she was considering Harry’s words.  


"Well then, I may have to ask him for help, but I don’t know how I could repay him…" Harry grinned even more and Cisco thought that he saw him smiling like that only when Jesse was near. This Harry was so much more open and seeing him flirt like that…Well, Cisco didn’t know what to think.  


"I’m sure you will think something up, dr Chambers."  


"I hope so, dr Wells." Their eyes locked for a second and they both grinned. Then ta ringtone could be heared and Cisco saw a phone in font of Harry light up. The man sighed and moved to pick it up.  


"HARRY LOOK OUT!!!!" Cisco watched as Harry tried to grab the wheel desperately with both hands as the car skidded from one side to the other. Unfortunately they were going with some speed and that combined with slippery road was enough to send the car flying. Libby screamed and Ramon didn't realise that he did the same...  


*

"Cisco! Cisco, what's happening?! Cisco!" He didn't know that he closed his eyes, but when he opened them the first thing he noticed was that the car has flipped and now it was upside down.

"Ugh..." He moved so he was sitting upright and looked around. "The car has just flipped...oh God..."

This was the moment he saw her. Libby Chambers hung head down on her seatbelts, blood dripping from her face, eyes halfway opened. Just then Cisco heard a groan to his left and he focused his eyes on Harry who was just waking up.  


"Ugh...Libby?" Harry whispered groggily and moved his head slowly, hands coming up to his forehead. Realisation slowly coming to him, that he wasn't in the position he should be in.  
Cisco could feel his heart shatter when Harry spotted his wife. His eyes grew bigger with evident panic. Cisco was so shocked himself that he couldn't move, emotions on the older man's face were too painful to watch. This was more heart-breaking than seeing Harry sitting with Jesse, when she was in coma or silently watching as Wells was nearing his braking point when his daughter was in Zoom’s clutches.  


"Oh God... Libby..." Younger Harry moved his shaking hands towards her. "Lib! No, no...please, God no...Lib, hold on! Please, please..."

Cisco was frozen to the spot, his eyes wide as Harrison Wells freaked out with tears streaming down his face. Cisco couldn’t remember if he ever saw him crying like that. With tears in his eyes struggling to hold on? Yes, but actually crying? No. And then Harry started to struggle making even more painful and distressed noises through it all, which was even worse.

Without a single warning, Cisco found himself outside the car and watched as Harry crawled out of it with painful gasps. He lay on the road breathing hard for a couple of moments gasping for breath and marking the road beneath him with blood splatters as he coughed. With mix of fear and anger he managed to stand up supporting himself on the car with one hand the other holding his ribs. Cisco looked around but the road looked deserted, no one was coming to help.  


"Cisco, what's going on?" He heard Barry's voice, but couldn't form any answer as he watched as Harry slowly circled the car and, while still crying, managed to free his wife from her seat with enormous effort. Harry collapsed with her on the road, cradling her in his arms. Cisco began to walk and stopped just beside the broken couple. Looking down he already could tell that there was nothing that could be done for Libby Chambers. Her half open eyes were glazed over and even in the bluish light of the vibe she looked pale. Harry's face was covered in various cuts and lacerations. One big gash was oozing blood that covered half of his face and his hair was sticky with blood. He sat creasing his wife's face and hair with one hand, while other supported her head as her upper body rested on his lap.  


"Please don't leave me..." He pleaded with tears streaming down his face. "Lib, please...please...come back..." Harry started rocking and hunched over. He burred his head in his wife's still shoulder, almost animalistic sounds coming out of him as heavy cries wracked his body.  


Then something shifted and when Cisco looked at his broken friend again, he was sitting still, his head resting on the car. At first glance, his eyes looked dead as they gazed forward, unfocused and glazed over. Harry's mouth were slightly agape and if Cisco hadn’t known better, he would tell, that Harrison Wells was dead as well. The sun was coming up and Cisco felt his stomach turn.  


"He's been here whole night..." He whispered.  


"4 hours 42 minutes" Cisco jumped at the sound of gruff voice next to him and turned around. Harry was standing next to him, but it wasn't wounded and broken Harry sitting on the road, it was older and gruffer Harry. Harry, whose eyes on the closer inspection didn't look so much different from his younger self. Cisco wanted to say something, but then he heard a car coming to a stop.  


"Oh my God! Mick?! Call an ambulance!" A young woman came dashing from that car and when she spotted the couple on the road her hand flew to her mouth.  


"Jesus..." She kneeled beside them and checked Libby's pulse, swallowing hard when she came in contact with the cold skin.  


"That's my Earth Christina McGee and her ex-husband," said Harry quietly beside Cisco. The younger man did a double take at those words and sure, when he looked closely, he could see the resemblance.  


"Sir? Can you hear me?" The Earth-2 Tina asked, putting her hand on younger Harry's shoulder. "Can you tell me your name?"  


Younger Harry didn't react, just stared ahead. Tina moved her hand to his neck to check his pulse and Cisco saw her sigh in relive.'"Sir?"  
,p>

"Jesus Christ..." The man, Mick, came to a halt next to Tina with blankets in one hand and phone in the other. "Is she...?" Tina shook her head and the man moved his hand through his hair distressed. "And he?"  


"He's alive but..."  


"Jesus, it's Harrison Wells!" The man exclaimed suddenly when he came closer and took a good look at Harry's face.  


"What...?" Tina moved some sticky, bloody hair away from Harry's face and recognition came to her too.  


"Oh my God, you're right..."  


"The ambulance will be here in half an hour..." Mick moved to kneel beside Tina with blankets which he grabbed from the car. "Maybe we should..." He gestured to Libby's still form. Christina looked at still not responsive Wells and then at the woman in his arms and nodded.  


"We need to check him for other injuries..."  


She shifted and delicately moved Harry's hands away from his wife's body. Just as his hands were free, he blinked and looked around confused.  


"Lib..." Cisco watched as younger Harry started to move suddenly, not knowing what was going on and tryed to wrap his hands around his wife once again. Tina moved and put her hands on Harry's.  


"Sir, we need to move her, it's ok..." This was so wrong, nothing was ok- Harry's wife was dead in his arms and the man himself looked like he was dead too.  


"No...Lib..." Harry started to thrash around in shock, not understanding what was going on.  


"Sir - Dr Wells" Tina's hands moved to his shoulders to keep him steady, knowing that he could injure himself further if he kept going like this. It didn't help, so she caught his face between both of her hands and made him look at her. "Harrison..." Harry stilled at the sound of his name and for the first time looked at the woman holding him.  


"We'll just move her, we won't take her away, ok? She will be beside you" After a moment Harry nodded once and his hands went slack. Mick moved Libby's body carefully off Wells and covered her with a blanket. Harry watched him with dead eyes. Cisco had to avert his own gaze, he couldn't stand how broken and lost Harry looked.  


"She's dead..." He heard Harry's broken half-choke, half-whisper as if he just woken up from a bad dream to even worse nightmare. The whisper soon changed to sob and it was followed by a heart-wrecking cries and sound of something hitting metal.  
When Cisco moved his eyes to the tragedy before him he saw Harry banging his head on the car behind him. Tina quickly moved to sit beside him. She put her hand on the back of his head to stop him and carefully guided him to rest on her shoulder.  


"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Harry repeated over and over.  


Tina didn't say anything. She just let him cry and held the broken man close, while Mick put a blanket around him. That was just too much for Cisco, he averted his gaze once again and at the same time, he felt movement at his side. When he turned around, he saw Harry walking away. Older Harry, their Harry but just as broken as the younger one. Cisco's hand moved but Wells was beyond his reach.  


"Harry!" He stilled for a moment and turned to look at Cisco with sad, tear-filled eyes.  


"What do you want Ramon?" He asked quietly.  


"I..." Cisco was suddenly short for words. Harry moved to the little group beside the car, kneeled beside the covered body and slowly moved the blanket aside to revel his dead wife's face. He delicately moved his index finger alongside her cheek  


"It wasn't your fault, Harry," said Cisco as he came to a halt next to the kneeling man. Suddenly there was just them, the flipped car and Libby's body. Harry smiled without hint of humour.  


"If I didn't moved to pick that damn phone she would still be alive," he whispered angrily.  


"You don't know that."  


"I know that I was going too fast in that weather, too long without a break and should keep my eyes on the damn road, not picking up phone calls." Harry stood up suddenly and then was inches away from Cisco. The younger man didn't back away, he was past the time when this closeness to Harrison Wells was making him cower in fear.  


"It wasn't your fault," said Cisco again. "Even if you hadn't done all those things, the car could still have flipped." Wells wanted to say something but Cisco didn't let him. "Your wife died, you survived and you ended up blaming yourself - believe me, I know how it feels. But Harry, this-" he gestured at the broken car and the body. "This has to stop. You're not alone anymore. Jesse has been worried sick about you, hell, we've all been."  


Harry huffed a laugh and shaked his head moving away.  


"Do you have any idea Ramon, how close I've been to making Jesse an orphan?" He asked suddenly not looking at Cisco and the younger man felt hair standing up on the back of his his neck.  


"After all this -" Harry waved his hand making a circle." - I've just...just snapped...I drunk myself to sleep, couldn't move, couldn't breathe..." He started to mess with his hair, then put his hands on his hips and looked up shaking his head to banish the tears.  


"One day I sat on the floor with my service gun freshly loaded. I put it on the floor next to me, I was so ready to put it to my head and just pull the trigger..."  


"But Jesse came to your room..." Harry's head whipped to face Cisco at his words, mouth slightly agape. The younger man smiled a little. "She told us, well not about the gun part but… well, it’s pretty obvious. The point is, she doesn't blame you Harry, she never has, about anything. Was she afraid? Yes, but did she blame you? Never. We don't blame you for anything because you never wanted to mess things up, we don't judge you. I most certainly don't."  


Was hearing Harry actually admitting that he had suicidal thoughts for something like 15 years unsettling? Yes. But who was he to judge? Hell, it wasn't so long ago, when he offered himself up to be killed by one of his friends. They were all really messed up and needed to stop keeping everything in, before something bad will happen. When Harry didn't answer Cisco moved a little closer.  


"We all messed up at some point. Barry changed the whole time line for heaven's sake."  


"He needs to stop doing that..." Murmured Harry looking at his shoes.  


"Yes, but what I mean is, that you can't blame yourself for all the bad that happened or will happen, not all of it is your fault. Believe me when I say, that if something would happen to you and you would die... There will be people who will miss you and probably they all will end up blaming themselves for it."  


Harry was silent for a moment and then he looked up and locked his gaze with Cisco's, a small smile at the corners of his mouth.  


"When did you became so wise and sappy?"  


Cisco smiled and reached his hand out to Harry.  


"Since my friend decided to be a moron. Come on Harry, HR is doing a good job at being Jesse uncle/almost-dad but she could really use you being awake. Besides we're having this movie night coming and we would like to have you there"  


Harry looked at Cisco's hand, then at his wife's body and again at the hand. And then he remembered all the good things he had done, all laughs, tears, hugs and teasing with Earth-1 team. How slowly his Earth became Earth-2 and how he finally could feel happy.

*

_"You know…You are the brightest star I see in the starry night," he said once to Lib when they were planning to open their lab.  
"Harrison Wells, you hopeless romantic," she answered with a laugh softly kissing him on the lips, "but just so you know Harry: finding more bright stars isn't that bad."_

*

A solitary tear escaped Harry's eye but he smiled.

  


"She would probably smacked you upside the head from what I could see," said Cisco and Harry let a short laugh to escape his lips.  


"Yeah... you're probably right..." He took a deep breath and looked at Cisco. "Well, we can't have my daughter and all of you corrupted by HR can we?" He asked with bright eyes and took Cisco's hand. The younger man smiled too but then stopped.

"Harry?"  


"Yeah?"  


"I think, I would like her. She seemed really nice." Harry looked dumbfounded for a moment but then he smiled broadly and for the first time in a very long time with no trace of sorrow in his eyes.  


"Yes, she was and yes, you two would get along just fine."  


Without another word they both felt a little pull and then the body and the car disappeared

*

When Cisco opened his eyes, he felt someone hold him still as he swayed a little and somewhat wasn't surprised, when he saw it was HR who caught him.

  


"Ok there Francisco?" He asked and weirdly Cisco knew it was much deeper question than it seemed. So he smiled and nodded once.  


"Yeah, everything is fine."  


He stood up straighter and looked around to see everybody's worried expressions.  


"Cisco? What about..." Barry didn't finished his question as he was interrupted by a grunt from the bed and everybody's heads whipped towards its source.  


"Ugh... that's a bummer..." Whispered a groggy voice of Harrison Wells.  


"Daddy!" Jesse was wrapping her hands and burring her head in her dad's shoulder in an instant. The older man smiled and a small laugh escaped his lips.  


"Hi there..." he whispered as he moved hair out of Jesse's face when she moved up. Caitlin appeared beside him with a cup of water, which he accepted with a nod of thanks. Jesse helped him shift and held the cup firmly in his hand to make it steady as it shook a little. A relieved sigh escaped from his lips when he finished, then he looked around and saw relieve on all faces gathered in the room. Barry moved to clasp his shoulder.  


"We're glad you back."He said and Harry nodded in thanks and small smile.  


"How are you feeling?" Asked Caitlin moving to stand beside Jesse. Harrison shifted and winced a little.  


"I'm not there yet...but I'm gonna be," he admitted, meaning not only his physical injuries.  


"In the meantime, I'll give you something for the pain. Could you move your toes for me please?"  


When he did just that he felt his hand being squeezed and looked at Jesse who fought back tears.  


"Hey..." He whipped his hand across her eyes and rested it on her cheek. "It's ok Jess, I'm gonna be just fine." Caitlin too had teary but a happy gaze. Yes, Harrison Wells wasn’t fine but he was getting there - maybe he didn’t move his whole legs yet, but given time, all should be alright.  


"You know, I don't blame you, right daddy? I never have..." In the same time new tears threaten to fall from Jesse’s eyes. Harry sighed and draw her close, so her head was on his chest as he hugged her tight.  


"I know Jess, believe me, I know it now..." And above her head he locked his eyes with Cisco’s, who nodded knowingly at him.  


"Alright folks!" Exclaimed HR rubbing his hands. "As dear Harry here decided to finally join us - whose up for some Big Belly Burger?!'  


Tension broken, everybody moved to the cortex laughing and exchanging their orders and whishing Harry all the best while deciding to give him some privacy with Jesse. HR was the last one to leave but was stopped before he managed that completely by Harry's voice.  


"HR," said man turned to look at his wounded doppelgänger with slightly raised eyebrows. Jesse seemed to have fallen asleep curled at her father’s side. Harry stroked her hair absently but then looked at her with a smile at the corner of his mouth and then back at his doppelganger. "Thank you." He said, remembering what Cisco said about HR and Jesse.  
His other self could be not as smart as himself but as it turned out wasn't as useless as he thought at first. He was forever grateful that the other him was there for his daughter. HR just smiled even more brightly showing all of his teeth, then moved his hand to the brim of his hat and dipped his head in a 'you welcome' gesture. More laughter came from the cortex and HR wiggled his eyebrows a little, then left to join the rest of the team.  
Harry smiled to himself and shook his head a little. Holding his daughter close, he closed his eyes and with a smile on his face he fell asleep.

_Lib, thank you...I finally came home._

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first long work in English and it's not my native language. I hope it turned alright.  
> I pictured Libby Chambers as Julie Bowen- together with Tom Cavanagh she was in a tv show called 'Ed' that I highly recommend :)


End file.
